Volume 25, number 2 (2004)
Articles
Independent Thought and Caribbean Community
The article presents a brief history of caricom, assessing its performance and relevance in the context of the divergent experiences of member countries in the 30 years since its inception and of the changes to the region’s role in the world economy. It concludes that, although CARICOM’s achievements over this period have been significant — not least in the formulation of common positions in the negotiation of international trade agreements — the case for deepening and widening the integration process ultimately rests on the idea of West Indian nationhood and the need to formulate indigenous approaches to economic, political, and social development.
Attaining Universal Access in Rural Areas: Business-NGO Partnership in Bangladesh as a Case Study
In recent years, partnership in development assistance has received a great deal of attention. This paper evaluates an alternative form of partnership, a business-NGO partnership, that provides rural people with access to telecommunications in Bangladesh. Despite market liberalization, the traditional provision mechanisms may not provide universal access to people living in rural areas of developing countries. Attainment of universal access, therefore, may require alternative institutions. Based on three criteria of universal service provision — nondiscriminatory access, uniform pricing, and quality restrictions — this study finds that the business-NGO partnership complies with the first two criteria. In addition, the partnership ensures economic sustainability for both the business and the NGO.
Les investissements directs étrangers sont-ils réellement un moteur de la croissance dans les pays en développement ? Les résultats mitigés d’une analyse empirique
This article discusses the theoretical impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) on host economies and presents econometric evidence based on a sample of developing countries. The results show that the predicted positive effect of FDI on host country economic growth is not systematic. FDI acts as a catalyst for productivity growth only in the small group of developing economies already distinguished by outstanding economic performance. As growth rate appears to be a key determinant of country attractiveness, FDI could favour the convergence between developed countries and emerging developing countries and deepen the divergence within developing countries as a whole.
Democratic Development: Gender Insights from the Grassroots in Nigeria
Under the auspices of CIDA, the Nigeria Community Development Program (CDP) was established in a context of repression and impoverishment that characterized the regime of the former Nigerian dictator, General Sani Abacha. The aim of the CDP was to contribute to the promotion of human rights and democratic development at the grassroots. Working with partner CBOs, the CDP found itself positioned at the interface of traditional, kinship institutions of governance and the local state. The article analyzes the CDP experience, and highlights the need to rethink inherited concepts such as civil society, and the nature of governance institutions at the local level, in order to expand democratic development to include grassroots women more fully.
East African Pastoralist Culture and the Problems of Development
East African migratory pastoralists can be viewed as a detached segment of humankind; an autonomous society derived from remote historical origins, representing the classic structure of an integral cultural entity. Their migratory culture permits adjustment through their frequent moving so that bovine disease can be minimized and water husbanded. However, many have argued that migratory utilization of pasturage is politically problematic and has caused major disputes with respect to ownership of lands and grazing grasses. These disputes hamper social production, distribution, and consumption to the extent of triggering cyclical underdevelopment. Hence, the problem pastoralists face is not so much whether to completely adopt new customs, or to attempt to recapture the old. Rather, in light of inevitable change, they are faced with the question of how to reconcile ever-changing circumstances with the maintenance of the old traditions.
Poverty and Food Security in Malawi: Some Policy Reflections on the Context of Crumbling Traditional Support Systems
The twin problems of poverty and food security have become subjects of widespread public discussion in Malawi since the country’s momentous transition to democratic rule in May 1994, which saw the rise to power of the United Democratic Front (UDF) government. The defining characteristic of the UDF government is its avowed commitment to poverty alleviation as a lynchpin of its overall economic and social agenda. A Poverty Alleviation Program was launched in August 1994 to translate the UDF government’s vision of a new Malawi founded on equal political, social, and economic rights. Views from below could be instrumental in informing and framing these policy debates and dialogue at macro levels since they provide an appreciation of the institutional context in which the struggle for daily subsistence takes place. Policy interventions end up as mere hopeful statements of intent instead of pragmatic solutions if the actual problems of the poor are not central to the solutions.
Direct Spanish Foreign Investment in Latin America: Determinants and Company Strategy
This article thoroughly analyzes the main determinants of the process of internationalization of Spanish firms in Latin America during the second half of the 90s. The results of the interviews that have been carried out show that the process of internationalization of Spanish firms reflects both the maturity of Spanish economic growth and the structural changes that the country has experienced since its integration in the European Union. They also show that the internationalization of Spanish firms is also a consequence of certain strengths related to the existence of a set of ownership advantages, on the part of some Spanish firms, and location advantages, especially those related to market access, which determine the decision to invest in Latin America.
2003 Kari Polanyi Levitt Prize
Human Security and the Crisis of Public Health Care in Malawi
The overlap between health and security is substantial, reflected by the emergence of the human security agenda, which provides for the consideration of health within international politics. However, we have no tool to explain or illuminate the lack of security in countries such as Malawi, where an entire nation is crumbling under the combined forces of disease and poverty. The concept of human security could form the analytical framework for understanding, and thus acting on, situations where countries are facing massive threats to development from public health sources, which currently are not recognized in traditional security forums.
Reviews
Alcohol in Africa: Mixing Business, Pleasure, and Politics, Deborah Fahy Bryceson
Masculinities Matter! Men, Gender, and Development, Frances Cleaver (ed.)
Moving Mountains: Communities Confront Mining & Globalisation, Geoff Evans, James Goodman, Nina Lansbury (eds.)
Global Governance, Economy, and Law: Waiting for Justice, Errol Mendes and Ozay Mehmet
Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security: The Impact of Globalisation, Vandana Shiva and Gitanjali Bedi (eds.)